Today, December 22, 2017, it is exactly two years since I sent my Charter Oak SCL-1 compressor back in for repair. It has not been returned yet. There has been many explanations and promises, but no return of a working unit. So at this point, I see no other way to try to fix this than to go public with my frustration.

There have been many promises of delivery (see below), and many explanations of why they are unable to fix it, or replace it, ranging from trouble with transistors to economic trouble. But for me, as a customer, the end result is a feeling that they almost have "stolen" my compressor. Two years, come on! I feel helpless in this situation, especially since I live in Europe. What are my options here, does anybody know?

Here are a snippets of the emails I've got over the years. I think all the broken promises really shows a lack of professionality.

2015 Dec. 15. "OK please ship the unit to us"
2016 March 8. "Tech is working on it and has ordered parts."
2016 May 11. "I am going to push the tech to correct it now and return it or we'll get you new unit."
2016 June 16. "We take care of it one way or the other."
2016 June 27. "I'm sorry i've been in the hospital with [removed]. I'll sort it out immediately when I get out and back to work."
2016 September 8. "I am investigating and will get back to you. Obviously we will replace the unit if necessary."
2016 September 27. "we escalate this to the highest priority! I will look into the status of this repair".
2016 September 29. "I will be checking with my people today".
2016 October 5. "We are working on it now."
2016 October 6. "As you have been waiting for a long time, we will probably replace it. I will be in touch in the upcoming days with the time frame for delivery."
2016 October 28. " I will write and order for it now and come back to you quickly with a time frame for delivery."
2016 November 25. "We are close to being able to ship a new one."
2017 January 4. "I will get a time line on your replacement and get back to you as quickly as possible by phone or email. I appreciate your patience very much. Don't worry, we'll solve it."
2017 January 31. "I will be in touch with the vendor and our factory today and get a realistic timeline on a delivery."
2017 March 27. "We have transformers and are building more now, so we can just ship you one directly on the week of the 10th."
2017 May 31. "I will be in touch tomorrow with a ship date for this."
2017 September 13. "I have added your unit to the backorder as a HIGH priority given the time you have been without the device. I will also personally continue to follow up with my people regarding this service issue specifically until it is solved."
2017 December 5. "will of course do my very best to be able to buy this new replacement unit for you and ship it prior to the 22nd."

The company knows about me, and that I'm going public with this today, at the "anniversary". Still, they have not been able to fix or replace my SCL-1. Expect MD to jump in below, with more promises and explanations.

All your "quotes" give the impression you have been only talking to 1 person, the same person, each time, and no one else at the company. Is that what you are claiming?

Yes, it is the same man every time, the manager of the company. Before, I used to think there were many employees in the company, but I'm starting to think maybe it is only him who works there. Because no matter which email address i send email to, it is him who is responding.

1. The wait time you experienced is not acceptable.
2. I don't think they sell a lot of the compressors and had problems getting parts from China. Probably went to another distributor since they first started making them.
3. I would just ship you a brand new one if I was them but perhaps reason #2 prevented it.
4. The Dangerous or Dave Hill Titan compressor would be a good replacement of the unit. Personally I would get the Titan.
5. Very sorry you had to go through these headaches

Ridiculous and completely unacceptable if this is in any way true. I'm so sorry for having to go through this with a supposedly professional company.

If there's another side to the story, let's hear it, otherwise total garbage. A replacement/refund should have issued long ago.

Pathetic when public shaming is the only course of action a consumer feels they have. You have failed so hard and so fundamentally as a company. Egregious.

Thanks for the support guys. It kinda helps. I think the other side to the story is that they maybe had real problems fixing my unit because it was one of the first they made, and it had somewhat different components compared to the later units. At least that's what MD (Michael Deming, the manager) says. So it was not a simple swap job. But instead of trying and trying to fix it, delaying and delaying, they should just have faced the facts and replaced it, to keep their customer happy.

The only reason I can think of that makes the lack of replacing rational, is that the company really struggles economically. They really have to stall and give false promises all the time, because they are on the brink of bankruptcy. I really hope that is not the case though, because it would mean I will never get my SCL-1 back.

Thanks for the support guys. It kinda helps. I think the other side to the story is that they maybe had real problems fixing my unit because it was one of the first they made, and it had somewhat different components compared to the later units. At least that's what MD (Michael Deming, the manager) says. So it was not a simple swap job. But instead of trying and trying to fix it, delaying and delaying, they should just have faced the facts and replaced it, to keep their customer happy.

The only reason I can think of that makes the lack of replacing rational, is that the company really struggles economically. They really have to stall and give false promises all the time, because they are on the brink of bankruptcy. I really hope that is not the case though, because it would mean I will never get my SCL-1 back.

Regardless of what the issues were on their side of this, 2 years is absurd. They should send you a new unit and some sort of compensation for your agita, their lack of doing the right thing and for the sessions wasted when you could not use the gear.

The only reason I can think of that makes the lack of replacing rational, is that the company really struggles economically. They really have to stall and give false promises all the time, because they are on the brink of bankruptcy...

Treating customers like this is not helping that issue, if it's the case. This will cost them a few sales. Those responses almost sound like computer generated responses. Of course they are not, but standard boilerplate, "stall the customer" stuff. For some reason, you are on CO's permanent back-burner.

Looks like 2016, May 11, they knew this thing wasn't getting fixed, and should have shipped out a new one, no matter how much it hurt. Instead of this fiasco, you would have been posting "What great company!" and a few people would have spent money there. Classic business PR screw up. Save a few dollars and sink the company.

2 years!?!?!?!?! Holy hell that's just CRAZY!! I think he's on here as @CT Yankee , at least I've seen responses on other service/quality issue related threads from that profile.

To all that have had difficulties getting your service items replaced,

I think this needs a thorough explanation but really don't want to jump in here and make excuses.

1. we no longer buy parts or build anything in China. We haven't for some time. Our product is made 11% in the U.S. and is now serviced by our contract manufacturer and service itmes are repaired and turned around quickly. Anything manufactured from 2016 going forward falls into that category. So if you're thinking of buying a new PEQ-1 you should at least listen to it before you deny yourself and your mixes that opportunity.

2. We have over 10,000 customers since 2004 and probably less that 10 unhappy ones. We have supplied new units worth twice the price of old ones to many customers who sent things in for repair. i have personally bought brand new items for people who bought stuff used that couldn't be fixed for lack of the old parts and couldn't afford to buy new.

3. The transition from our own factory to a contract manufacturer was very tough for us and now besides the people in our factory I AM the only one left in the company and am trying very hard to get it back on it's feet as it's worth it. We spent years designing and building really goods sounding equipment and our current contract manufacturer does a great job so we'll keep going.

4. I don't like to say this, but it is this forum that has caused some of the worst slowdowns for us and has actually impeded our abilities. When a legitimately unhappy customer posts, like Torstein. who will eventually when we can send him a brand new unit, as i promised to do in replacement of his old used unit, scores of peolple chime in most of whom are affiliated with competing companies trolling the forum. We have even had people chime in and claim to be customers who aren't, looking to get a new unit or in the worst case tried to extort us for 3000.00 USD.

Torstien, when our factory opens again on Jan 2 I will contact them to see what we can do and how quickly we can take care of you. ...and I apologize for the long wait and will make sure that it is worth that wait. I am overwhelmed since I am the only one working so please stay in direct contact with me, send me an email and I will be happy to send you my mobile phone number.

Anyone else out there, if there is, please do the same. My direct email is [email protected], and I will give you my mobile number so we can stay in touch and solve whatever issues you have. Problems of 2014-2015 in that transition are in the past and behind us and I am working hard to go back to the kind of company we were before that disaster, and it's certainly NO reflection on the build quality and sound quality of our current equipment so please give us a listen.

We've many many happy customers who have recently purchased CO micrtophones and signal processors. We would certainly appreciate it if anyone would like to share their experience with that or when I have provided personal customer service and technical advice 24/7, 365 since I sleep with my Blackberry right next to me.

To all that have had difficulties getting your service items replaced,

I think this needs a thorough explanation but really don't want to jump in here and make excuses.

1. we no longer buy parts or build anything in China. We haven't for some time. Our product is made 11% in the U.S. and is now serviced by our contract manufacturer and service itmes are repaired and turned around quickly. Anything manufactured from 2016 going forward falls into that category. So if you're thinking of buying a new PEQ-1 you should at least listen to it before you deny yourself and your mixes that opportunity.

2. We have over 10,000 customers since 2004 and probably less that 10 unhappy ones. We have supplied new units worth twice the price of old ones to many customers who sent things in for repair. i have personally bought brand new items for people who bought stuff used that couldn't be fixed for lack of the old parts and couldn't afford to buy new.

3. The transition from our own factory to a contract manufacturer was very tough for us and now besides the people in our factory I AM the only one left in the company and am trying very hard to get it back on it's feet as it's worth it. We spent years designing and building really goods sounding equipment and our current contract manufacturer does a great job so we'll keep going.

4. I don't like to say this, but it is this forum that has caused some of the worst slowdowns for us and has actually impeded our abilities. When a legitimately unhappy customer posts, like Torstein. who will eventually when we can send him a brand new unit, as i promised to do in replacement of his old used unit, scores of peolple chime in most of whom are affiliated with competing companies trolling the forum. We have even had people chime in and claim to be customers who aren't, looking to get a new unit or in the worst case tried to extort us for 3000.00 USD.

Torstien, when our factory opens again on Jan 2 I will contact them to see what we can do and how quickly we can take care of you. ...and I apologize for the long wait and will make sure that it is worth that wait. I am overwhelmed since I am the only one working so please stay in direct contact with me, send me an email and I will be happy to send you my mobile phone number.

Anyone else out there, if there is, please do the same. My direct email is [email protected], and I will give you my mobile number so we can stay in touch and solve whatever issues you have. Problems of 2014-2015 in that transition are in the past and behind us and I am working hard to go back to the kind of company we were before that disaster, and it's certainly NO reflection on the build quality and sound quality of our current equipment so please give us a listen.

We've many many happy customers who have recently purchased CO micrtophones and signal processors. We would certainly appreciate it if anyone would like to share their experience with that or when I have provided personal customer service and technical advice 24/7, 365 since I sleep with my Blackberry right next to me.

As a spectator to all this, while your points have merit, you let this poor chap without a unit for 2 years and there is simply no excuse that is going to cover the way you have treated this situation.

As a spectator to all this, while your points have merit, you let this poor chap without a unit for 2 years and there is simply no excuse that is going to cover the way you have treated this situation.

indeed. simply should be no more than an apology, and unit in the very next post!

no need to bash gearslutz either, whilst it has perhaps created difficulties, I'm sure its responsible for many sales as well!

I don't like to say this, but it is this forum that has caused some of the worst slowdowns for us and has actually impeded our abilities.

When a legitimately unhappy customer posts, like Torstein. who will eventually when we can send him a brand new unit,

Torstien, when our factory opens again on Jan 2 I will contact them

I am overwhelmed since I am the only one working so please stay in direct contact with me, send me an email and I will be happy to send you my mobile phone number.

Anyone else out there, if there is, please do the same. My direct email is

There are sometimes circumstances that can only be solved in one way. And as you know (and I know from experience in any business I've owned), forums, bad or even incorrect press info can kill a biz. Especially one run by one person.

While I don't know if the Torstein guy originally, originally bought his unit new somewhere (as opposed to used on ebay/Craigslist)..... which would only slightly weigh the way I as a biz owner would responded to his repair (which I tend to believe involves a unit Torstein originally bought new as a first owner).....

the bottom line is this.....

1. as a biz owner, you appear to be up against a wall, attempting to keep the biz going. And maybe you're trying to make house/car payments as well as well as feed kids.

2. You have 7 or so US dealers and however many in other countries. At the moment, some of them.....or maybe none of them.... have orders in with you. Also, some of them.....or maybe none of them, owe you $ on open invoices. So there are or there are not receivables.

3. I notice you have a Namm booth here in LA in 4 weeks. That cost at least $4k to do, and that's a minimum. Even if you're sharing a booth with someone else, you're paying some amount for that. You already have an idea of how many orders you have to book at Namm to break even and/or to make a profit at the show. You may even have items you can ship the week of the show and be paid for from US dealers who pay on 30-45 day terms.

4. You do or do not have a biz line of credit in various forms. Maybe it's tapped, maybe it's not.

5. Maybe you have equity in your house or car.

With the above scenario, you have ONE customer on the planet who has waited 2 years for a repair and/or money back. At least only One that I hear about on the world wide web so far.

The first thing I'll say..... in a gentle but incredulous manner.... is that this is a very very very stupid situation that the CUSTOMER has created (don't bother with "geeee, what did I do...just keep reading). The manufacturer then adds to the stupid situation below.

I don't care what beliefs the customer has/had, you DON'T wait two years for reconcilliation of a traffic accident, refund, job offer response, or any other day to day activity in this realm. And don't give me "oh gee well I like to trust the good in people...".... THIS IS A BUSINESS DEAL WHERE YOU PAID MONEY.....NOT A DATE WITH A GIRL.

But back to the manufacturer......

I don't care what your situation (just as it would be irrelevant if I were in your shoes.... which I was sometimes, somewhat close to at miniscule times in the 80s, but did the right thing to correct the situations).....

you, Mr Manufacturer, absolutely blew it after 60 days with the repair. It's a good thing you don't sell direct and accept credit cards or you would've had the wrath of international card providers on you/canceling/suing you over this seemingly, unrelated activity.

There is no excuse for one more "email me, I keep my blackberry under my pillow". How can you make that comment (what with the paper trail of emails) knowing that you have zero credibility? That was over....imo......18 or so months ago. The "I'm struggling" part, while maybe true, can NOT be linked to "email me any time". Do you see how ludicrous that looks, when up against that series of email conversations from the past???????

As bad as things might be for you, but considering you do have a cash flow for Namm etc, you MUST (imo) grab cash from areas, 2,3,4,5 and FedEx an international cashier check to the op for the full amount of whatever he paid for the unit new.

You simply waited way too long for any other viable option... which should have been done after 60 days with the repair imo.......and now, there is a paper-trail of publicly -viewable absolutely harmful emails that are going to keep killing your biz. You've got to get cash to this guy. If sixteen other guys crawl out of the woodwork and want refunds for repairs....all I would say is.... how many repairs have you been sitting on for 2 years? But that's another topic aside from this squeaky wheel situation.

The "email me, I have my blackberry at all times", is you sticking your foot in your mouth with each new comment rather than action.

Really man, you have no choice. Buckle down and pay the guy back. Even if it's gonna really hurt. Get a second or third part-time job for a month to make up the shortfall. Buckle up and pay, so the stress will be behind you. Otherwise, it keeps biting harder and harder.

And op.....wtf is it with you for letting something like this go for 2 years without filing a claim in Oslo or whatever with an attorney, court, newspaper, collection agency (that is on contingency) or any number of solutions that would've created noise and a probably solution in 2015?

I have apologized to the customer directly and been in touch with him directly. This forum is not the venue for that. it's just too impersonal.

I have made sure that he understands that I have reopened the case and will take care of him even if I have to personally buy him a unit, which in some cases is necessary.

My company is not looking for sympathy here. Ultimately I am much more concerned with taking care of any customer, including Torstien, that has a problem, any kind of problem large or small, MUCH more than I am concerned with the opinions of anyone on this forum. Chances are from what we have seen here, are that anyone taking the time to chime in and pile on, are most likely affiliated in some way with a competing company anyway.

1. we no longer buy parts or build anything in China. We haven't for some time. Our product is made 11% in the U.S. and is now serviced by our contract manufacturer and service itmes are repaired and turned around quickly. Anything manufactured from 2016 going forward falls into that category. So if you're thinking of buying a new PEQ-1 you should at least listen to it before you deny yourself and your mixes that opportunity.

Why should anyone believe anything you type on here having read all the assurances you gave this customer over TWO YEARS' time?

Quote:

2. We have over 10,000 customers since 2004 and probably less that 10 unhappy ones.

Sounds like their treatment was so poor it made up for the other 9,990.

Quote:

4. I don't like to say this, but it is this forum that has caused some of the worst slowdowns for us and has actually impeded our abilities. When a legitimately unhappy customer posts, like Torstein. who will eventually when we can send him a brand new unit, as i promised to do in replacement of his old used unit, scores of peolple chime in most of whom are affiliated with competing companies trolling the forum. We have even had people chime in and claim to be customers who aren't, looking to get a new unit or in the worst case tried to extort us for 3000.00 USD.

Then I would think you would want to get something like this resolved ASAP. The longer it drags on, the longer you (supposedly) have to deal with people inspired by complaints. You let this case troll dishonest people for two years. Must not be too bad.

This guy has been extraordinarily patient. I would have sued you some time ago.

EDIT: Anyone who agrees that this is ridiculously bad customer service must be affiliated with another company, huh? LOL.

Chances are from what we have seen here, are that anyone taking the time to chime in and pile on, are most likely affiliated in some way with a competing company anyway.

No less inaccurate and paranoid when you repeat it. Does you no go good to say that kinda sh!t -- just makes you look like a whiner looking for someone to blame. Until you can afford a press secretary to do it for you, maybe it's best not to do it.

There are sometimes circumstances that can only be solved in one way. And as you know (and I know from experience in any business I've owned), forums, bad or even incorrect press info can kill a biz. Especially one run by one person.

While I don't know if the Torstein guy originally, originally bought his unit new somewhere (as opposed to used on ebay/Craigslist)..... which would only slightly weigh the way I as a biz owner would responded to his repair (which I tend to believe involves a unit Torstein originally bought new as a first owner).....

the bottom line is this.....

We want to get him a new SCL-1 because that's what he wants. He loves the sound of it. It's a great compressor.

All of this in this post is pretty presumptuous. I won't be so presumptuous as to ask which of our competitors you own or are affiliated with. There is always a wealth of people on this forum with all of the answers and who could have done a much better job that I did starting CharterOak, and working with design engineers to bring all of my ideas to market, and then running the company for 15 years and taking care of the 11,522 existing customers.

I guess the bottom line is that I'll leave it at that and spend my time worrying about making this customer whole rather than wasting more time here.

All I can say is that we are bouncing back and will take care of the less than 10 unhappy customers out of our over 10,000 customers worldwide.

1. as a biz owner, you appear to be up against a wall, attempting to keep the biz going. And maybe you're trying to make house/car payments as well as well as feed kids.

2. You have 7 or so US dealers and however many in other countries. At the moment, some of them.....or maybe none of them.... have orders in with you. Also, some of them.....or maybe none of them, owe you $ on open invoices. So there are or there are not receivables.

3. I notice you have a Namm booth here in LA in 4 weeks. That cost at least $4k to do, and that's a minimum. Even if you're sharing a booth with someone else, you're paying some amount for that. You already have an idea of how many orders you have to book at Namm to break even and/or to make a profit at the show. You may even have items you can ship the week of the show and be paid for from US dealers who pay on 30-45 day terms.

4. You do or do not have a biz line of credit in various forms. Maybe it's tapped, maybe it's not.

5. Maybe you have equity in your house or car.

With the above scenario, you have ONE customer on the planet who has waited 2 years for a repair and/or money back. At least only One that I hear about on the world wide web so far.

The first thing I'll say..... in a gentle but incredulous manner.... is that this is a very very very stupid situation that the CUSTOMER has created (don't bother with "geeee, what did I do...just keep reading). The manufacturer then adds to the stupid situation below.

I don't care what beliefs the customer has/had, you DON'T wait two years for reconcilliation of a traffic accident, refund, job offer response, or any other day to day activity in this realm. And don't give me "oh gee well I like to trust the good in people...".... THIS IS A BUSINESS DEAL WHERE YOU PAID MONEY.....NOT A DATE WITH A GIRL.

But back to the manufacturer......

I don't care what your situation (just as it would be irrelevant if I were in your shoes.... which I was sometimes, somewhat close to at miniscule times in the 80s, but did the right thing to correct the situations).....

you, Mr Manufacturer, absolutely blew it after 60 days with the repair. It's a good thing you don't sell direct and accept credit cards or you would've had the wrath of international card providers on you/canceling/suing you over this seemingly, unrelated activity.

There is no excuse for one more "email me, I keep my blackberry under my pillow". How can you make that comment (what with the paper trail of emails) knowing that you have zero credibility? That was over....imo......18 or so months ago. The "I'm struggling" part, while maybe true, can NOT be linked to "email me any time". Do you see how ludicrous that looks, when up against that series of email conversations from the past???????

As bad as things might be for you, but considering you do have a cash flow for Namm etc, you MUST (imo) grab cash from areas, 2,3,4,5 and FedEx an international cashier check to the op for the full amount of whatever he paid for the unit new.

You simply waited way too long to do this.... which should have been done after 60 days with the repair imo.......and now, there is a paper-trail of publicly -viewable absolutely harmful emails that are going to keep killing your biz.

The addition of the above "email me, I have my blackberry at all times", could be the last comment that takes you completely under.....I hope not.... but gee, you're sticking your foot in your mouth with each new comment rather than action

You really have to get this finalized now, before the new year hits in a week.... with a cashier check to the guy. imo.

And that may not do the trick overall. The paper trail of emails will be online forever. Long after this is reconciled.

But really man, you have no choice. Buckle up and pay the guy back. Even if it's gonna really hurt. Get a second or third part-time job for a month to make up the shortfall. Buckle up and pay, so the stress will be behind you. Stuff like this can take everything down permanently imo.

And op.....wtf is it with you for letting something like this go for 2 years without filing a claim in Oslo or whatever with an attorney, court, newspaper, collection agency (that is on contingency) or any number of solutions that would've created noise and a probably solution in 2015?

We want to get him a new SCL-1 because that's what he wants. He loves the sound of it. It's a great compressor.

All of this in this post is pretty presumptuous. I won't be so presumptuous as to ask which of our competitors you own or are affiliated with. There is always a wealth of people on this forum with all of the answers and who could have done a much better job that I did starting CharterOak, and working with design engineers to bring all of my ideas to market, and then running the company for 15 years and taking care of the 11,522 existing customers.

I guess the bottom line is that I'll leave it at that and spend my time worrying about making this customer whole rather than wasting more time here.

All I can say is that we are bouncing back and will take care of the less than 10 unhappy customers out of our over 10,000 customers worldwide.

..and really I have to disagree that the customer is at any fault here. This guy returned his unit for service at a terrible time. it was just simply bad timing between manufacturing facilities, and it's my responsibility to stay in touch with him. I have been so overwhelmed that i dropeed the ball on this guy. Placing part of the blame on a customer as an element of your pontification is a little offensive.

I guess the bottom line is that I'll leave it at that and spend my time worrying about making this customer whole rather than wasting more time here.

All I can say is that we are bouncing back and will take care of the less than 10 unhappy customers out of our over 10,000 customers worldwide.

..and really I have to disagree that the customer is at any fault here. This guy returned his unit for service at a terrible time.

I have been so overwhelmed that i dropeed the ball on this guy.

Placing part of the blame on a customer as an element of your pontification is a little offensive.

Well of course you'll say it's offensive. What else can you say? I would stand by my belief that the customer waited too long to get to a solution from a third party.......

But you say.....

...the customer wants a new SCL-1 ....that's what he has always wanted (and not a refund) ...even after 2-years and that is your focus on what to do...and the customer is in the loop on this being the preferred solution.....

okay, I didn't pick up on that being the understanding here in month 24. I'll take your word for it and exit the conversation.

And no, I'm not a competitor of yours and am not in hardware manufacturing at all. My millions were made in software in the early 80s. But I stand by all my points as they apply to hardware, software, and service.

No less inaccurate and paranoid when you repeat it. Does you no go good to say that kinda sh!t -- just makes you look like a whiner looking for someone to blame. Until you can afford a press secretary to do it for you, maybe it's best not to do it.

I'm not looking for any sympathy here at all. It's our responsibilty this situation with this customer and like I have said, I care much more about taking care of our people and customers than I do about the opinions of anyone on this forum.

However, it is absolutely true that we have served over 10,000 customers and have only less than a handful who have had any kind of problem similar to this during our transition period.

and for the record, it is also absolutely true that this forum is often used as a venue to do damage to competing companies reputations and in our case we actually had a guy claim to be a customer that wasn't who couldn't provide any information about his supposed purchase. The guy was just trying to get us to send him free equipment or money under threat of posting here.

So it is what it is. until you actually have to deal with that kind of stuff and have it waste your time and hurt you, I guess it's hard to understand it.

As a spectator to all this, while your points have merit, you let this poor chap without a unit for 2 years and there is simply no excuse that is going to cover the way you have treated this situation.

Agreed. This type of conduct is completely unacceptable and disrespectful. You are acting like a criminal in this matter and you deserve to fail in your business matters. The only people who have this kind of disrespect for their customers are either drug addicts, criminals or people in such bad financial shape they cannot function and if that is the case return his ****ing unit so someone else can fix it. Horrible bull**** behaviour.

No less inaccurate and paranoid when you repeat it. Does you no go good to say that kinda sh!t -- just makes you look like a whiner looking for someone to blame. Until you can afford a press secretary to do it for you, maybe it's best not to do it.

You and the poster right behind you have obviously never come up out of your basement shop from populating PCBs by hand for 10 hours like I did when we started CharterOak, only to read posts on this forum bashing us for making our products in China. That has been and continues to be frustrating. I'm sure that many didn't even bother to give us a listen based on the China nonsense.

We used to buy carrying cases and some chassis from Asia but never were our products Made in China after the first few months, so the propaganda drove us crazy and wasted countless hours of time dealing with responding to it.

We dealt with people spreading that nonsense right here on this forum for years and it persists even today.

We're off on a tangent here. Again none of this is any excuse for when we drop the ball on a customer, but this stuff is a fact of life as it relates to my company here on this forum.